Properties to JSON - Java Config Migration

Convert Java .properties files to JSON instantly. Supports Spring Boot, Maven configs, Unicode escapes, dot notation expansion. Browser-based, no uploads.

Properties Input

JSON Output

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Frequently Asked Questions

.properties files are key-value text configuration files used in Java applications. They use simple 'key=value' or 'key:value' syntax and have been a standard for Java configuration since JDK 1.0, commonly found in Spring Boot, Maven, and legacy Java projects.

Spring Boot uses application.properties for configuration like database URLs, server ports, and feature flags. Java applications load them with Properties class. They're the traditional alternative to YAML for Spring configuration.

Dot notation expansion converts flat keys like 'server.port=8080' and 'server.host=localhost' into nested JSON objects: {"server": {"port": "8080", "host": "localhost"}}. Enable this option to create hierarchical JSON from flat property keys.

Properties files use \uXXXX for non-ASCII characters (like \u00E9 for é). This tool automatically decodes these escape sequences into actual Unicode characters in the JSON output, preserving international text correctly.

No. Properties file comments (lines starting with # or !) are removed during conversion since JSON doesn't support comments. Only the actual key-value pairs are converted.

Lines ending with backslash (\) continue on the next line. The tool automatically joins these continuation lines, removes the backslash, and trims leading whitespace from the next line per Java properties specification.

The tool handles escaped special characters: \n becomes newline, \t becomes tab, \r becomes carriage return, \\ becomes single backslash. Escaped colons (\:) and equals (\=) in keys are also properly decoded.

Traditional .properties files use ISO-8859-1 (Latin-1) encoding with \uXXXX escapes for other characters. Modern tools support UTF-8. This converter handles both: it processes UTF-8 input and decodes \uXXXX escapes automatically.

JSON supports nested structures, arrays, and typed values (numbers, booleans). It's more readable for complex configs, widely supported across languages, and easier to manipulate programmatically. Many modern frameworks prefer JSON or YAML over flat properties.

Yes. The parser validates key-value syntax, properly paired escape sequences, and line continuation. Invalid files show specific error messages indicating what's wrong and which line number caused the issue.

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